


You Live You Learn

by felicityollies



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Professors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-18 00:31:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9354512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/felicityollies/pseuds/felicityollies
Summary: Felicity and Oliver are both professors at an esteemed university, but they’ve never actually talked to each other. That is until her lack of filter and babbling get her noticed.





	

Felicity closed up her notebook as her classroom emptied. She never actually needed her lecture notes because she had all of her lectures memorized including hypothetical questions and answers from and for the students. Her classes this year had actually been rather quiet. As if they already knew all the answers. Teenagers. They were going to be sorry when she gave her first test on cyber security. It was probably going to be the same for her computer forensics class. Yes, she taught both how to hack into a computer (for legal police-type reasons) and how to keep a computer safe. If no one else was amused by it at least she was.

She gathered up her things and pushed them into her messenger bag. Her hair was a frazzled mess, but then again it always was. Ever since Felicity had started teaching, her everyday look was exhausted woman doesn’t know how to pin flyaways. It didn’t bother her. She wasn’t working at a university to look like a damn model.

Shaking her head, she walked into the hallway and started down the hallway towards her office. The corridor was kind of quiet. A few students scattered about and a pair of teachers walking in the opposite direction.

Speaking of models. Professor Abercrombie and Professor Ralph Lauren happened to be the teachers coming towards her.

Nate “Abercrombie” Heywood was a history professor while Oliver “Ralph Lauren” Queen taught various literature classes. The amount of times she had heard students, both men and women alike, swoon over these two was unreal. They were very pretty to look at, though.

“Very pretty,” she mumbled as they passed.

They both stopped and Felicity thought she might shrivel up and die right there.

“What?” Oliver looked at her.

“Who’s pretty? Are we pretty?” Nate gave a charming yet teasing grin.

“No, I was just saying that it’s a very pretty day… here inside a stuffy old building,” she mumbled. “I wasn’t saying that you were pretty.”

They both gave her a frown.

“Not that you’re not pretty or anything, but that’s not an appropriate thing for me to say. So I wasn’t saying it. At all,” she sighed, “I’m going to my office now to never be heard from again.”

Nate laughed, “Instead of doing that, why don’t you join us for lunch?”

“What?” she tried not to squeak.

“C’mon,” Nate motioned for her to follow.

Oh god what was happening? Her lack of filter and incessant rambling usually landed her dirty looks and people just walking away from her. At least this wasn’t high school. No, she was a grown adult, working at a very nice college with very attractive men that wanted to have lunch with her. Nothing out of the ordinary.

“What he said,” Oliver added as they walked forward.

“Well, alright.”

She quickly moved to walk side by side with them. There weren’t many people at the college that she actually spent time with. It wasn’t that she didn’t want friends or something. She was just very socially awkward. Maybe it was time to branch out and try to be friendly.

The two men led her into the dining hall. It smelled like someone had gone to a lot of trouble cooking that day. Her stomach growled in response to the delicious scents, which only made her blush profusely.

“Good thing we dragged you down here, huh?” Nate teased.

She gave a nervous laugh, “Yeah.”

They went through the line where she picked up freshly made mac and cheese and a salad. She was totally trying to eat healthier, but the cheesey goodness had called her name. And loudly. The three adults sat a table off in the corner. She still felt a little awkward, sitting with two very attractive men who happened to be her co-workers.

“So…” Nate started to say, seeming to search for a word.

“Felicity,” Oliver said.

“Felicity,” Nate repeated, “Other than thinking we’re pretty what’s going on in that head of yours?”

She blushed again. First of all, Oliver knew who she was for whatever reason and second, she was pretty sure she was never going to live the pretty comment down.

“Not much?” she said, “I mean of course I have thoughts, but I just taught a class and you know how it is. You need to wind down afterwards or you’re going to burn yourself out and get frazzled. Not to say I know how you feel, but that’s how I feel….”

Nate chewed on a bite a sandwich and nodded his head.

Oliver pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, “I know what you mean,” he gave her a charming smile.

Her insides didn’t a little flip flop. Good lord that man was swoon worthy. With his perfectly done hair, those black squared glasses that framed his face perfectly, and he was so well dressed too. Never would she have thought that a sweater vest, button up shirt, and slacks could be attractive, but he made them so.

“Oh good,” she smiled and took a bite of her mac and cheese.

He met her gaze and held it for a little longer than might be considered normal. She bit down on her lip and looked down.

“How’re your classes going, Felicity?” Nate asked.

She poked at her salad for a moment. “Good,” she looked up at him, “Students always think that they know more than I do, but…” she shrugged her shoulders.

“I hate that,” Oliver shook his head.

Nate looked between them for a moment, but she didn’t really notice.

“You single?” Nate asked.

She nearly choked on a piece of macaroni. “Wh-what?”

“Nate,” Oliver hissed.

“It’s just a question,” he shrugged nonchalantly.

She dabbed her lip with a napkin and took a drink of diet coke. “Well, I am currently not dating anyone at the moment.”

Her cheeks were bright red at this point. She was a grown woman and she shouldn’t have been so thrown off by a little question about her love life.

“You’re as bad as my mother,” she muttered to Nate.

He blinked a couple of times. “What?”

“She’s always asking me about my nonexistent love life. So, you’re as bad as a Jewish mother,” she smirked.

Oliver laughed.

“Hey! It was just a question!”

He got loud enough that a few students stopped to look.

“Keep walking or you’re getting F’s,” he said.

“We’re not even in your class,” one of the students said.

“That changes nothing,” Nate glared.

The students scrambled out of there. Felicity and Oliver were laughing up a storm. She couldn’t help it. Nate might have been incredibly cute, but he was also a huge dork. Somehow, she felt some level of relief.

“Alright, alright,” he mumbled, stuffing another large bite of sandwich in his mouth.

“You brought all of this onto yourself,” Oliver said.

“You really did,” she giggled.

“Mhmm,” Nate glared at them.

They ate and talked for a few more minutes before they had to start going their separate ways.

“Maybe we should do this more often,” she said almost hesitantly.

“I would like that,” Oliver flashed those perfect pearly whites again.

“Great,” she returned the smile, “I’ll see you two later.”

* * *

Oliver could not believe Nate. The ridiculous man. They had been walking to lunch perfectly fine when he happened to notice Felicity Smoak walking towards them.

 _“Isn’t that the cute computer professor you like?”_  
  
_“What? No.”_  
  
_“It totally is,” Nate had laughed._  
  
And then taken the opportunity to fluster the poor woman as well as him. He was just better at hiding it. Or at least he thought he was. He knew when they were eating together that Nate’s innocent question had sent him into a momentary tizzy.

It was just… he’d seen Felicity the first day she started at the college not too long ago. She seemed a little lost and confused, but managed to find her way around without help. He hadn’t gotten around to talking to her because… he kind of found her intimidating. She taught a tough subject, but everyone seemed to like her, students and teachers alike. He also thought that she was incredibly beautiful. Never had he seen her looking perfectly pristine. She always had a messy bun or ponytail and sometimes her blouses were wrinkled. Even if she hadn’t paired her blouses with short skirts, he would have found her attractive.

There was something else about her. A light and happiness that just seemed to radiate off of her. When he saw her in the hall, helping a student, the way they would look up at her with such awe and gratefulness. And the smile on her face. That smile could rival the sun’s brightness. So, yeah he was very intimidated and nervous to even try to talk to her, but that didn’t mean he wanted Nate’s help.

“Ask her out,” he said as soon as Felicity was out of earshot.

“What?”

“I saw how you two were looking at each other,” Nate gently bumped his elbow into Oliver’s side.

“Isn’t there some rule against co-workers dating?”

Nate just looked at him as if he were stupid.

“Whatever,” he mumbled and pulled away from his friend, “I should get going.” He walked away without another word.

Truth be told, her hadn’t dated in a really long time. He was better at screwing around than long term dating. It was probably one of the reasons that he had stayed away from Felicity. He liked her… or at least the idea he had of her, but um he definitely wanted to get into her pants too.

He could do better than that.

With a sigh, he walked down the hallway and found himself at Felicity’s office door. Biting down on his lip, he lifted his hand to knock. It only took a couple of seconds for her to answer him.

“Come in,” she said in a cheerful tone.

“Hey,” he said, stepping inside and closing the door.

She looked up at him in surprise. “Hi.”

“You’re not busy are you?” he asked, moving closer.

“Nope, not at all. I already have plans and tests written for the next couple of weeks and since I’ve only had a couple classes so far there isn’t anything to grade yet. I know some teachers give out work on the first day, but I always thought that was some kind of cruel punishment.”

“Felicity,” he said softly.

“Uh huh?” she pressed her lips together.

“You’re cute when you ramble,” he smirked.

“Oh you shush,” she waved her hand at him dismissively.

“I mean it,” he moved in closer, leaning on her desk.

“I think you just like making me blush,” she giggled nervously.

He shrugged, “Well, that’s cute too,” he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose again.

Her cheeks were even pinker than before.

He was trying to tone down the flirting, but it just wasn’t happening. This was going the same way it always went. Flirting, charming smile, and then the woman is on her back. It was a curse, really.

“You’re also very beautiful,” he said sweetly.

Felicity looked him in the eyes. “Is that so?”

“I don’t lie about those kinds of things,” he leaned in just a bit closer.

They were close, only inches apart, but there was some hesitation. He decided to meet her the rest of the way, but she yanked back and he almost tumbled forward.

“H-how about we start with a cup of coffee first?” she asked.

“What?” he straightened out, trying not to feel like an idiot.

“Look, Oliver, you’re very attractive. Like really really hot…” she looked him up and down for a moment, “What I’m trying to say is uh… no thank you? But I would like to get coffee or lunch… with you… alone sometime.”

He blinked a couple of times, but nodded, “Alright, yeah. I’m sorry,” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

Although he was embarrassed and feeling like an ass, he also felt grateful that she had stopped him. Obviously, she could have easily given into him and it would have been the same old story. Though, he did like her, so maybe things would have been different. This woman was making his brain all fuzzy and confused.

* * *

Felicity couldn’t believe that Oliver had come into her office with the intent of making out with her… and probably more. God, she had wanted to give into him right there, but she just couldn’t do that to herself. The last relationship she was in was all physical, no emotion, and she wasn’t about to start something like that again. Not that she thought she and Oliver were going to form a relationship. That was getting way ahead of herself.

They decided to get together on a Saturday morning when neither of them had class. No need to meet up for coffee and then have to rush away to teach. She stood outside a cafe that he had picked. For once, she looked put together. Her hair was straightened and down; and she wore one of her favorite tight grey dresses.

When Oliver arrived, she actually didn’t notice him at first. She was expecting him in his usual attire, but he showed up with jeans, a t-shirt, and a Rockets baseball cap, sitting backwards on his head; at least he still had his glasses on. Oh and he had a dog.

“Felicity,” he said, grabbing her attention.

“What? Oh! Oliver,” she smiled, “I almost didn’t recognize you.”

He laughed, “I could say the same to you.”

She rolled her eyes at him, but still smiled. “And who is this?”

“This is Mini,” he said.

The large black lab sniffed at Felicity’s shoes. “Mini?”

“Uh yeah… short for Minerva.”

“Someone’s a Harry Potter fan,” she teased.

“I am a literature professor,” he huffed.

She laughed and leaned down to pet the dog. Mini was more than happy to receive the affection.

“Ready to get some coffee and go for a walk?”

“A walk?”

“Mhmm, I thought a nice walk around the park would be fun.”

“Now did you decide this or did Mini?” she teased again.

“Might have been Mini.”

She giggled and followed him into the cafe. Apparently, he knew the guy that owned the place and they didn’t care about Mini coming in with them. In fact, they had treats waiting for the pup at the counter. The two left the cafe with their coffee and started towards the park. Any wariness or fear that she might have had about going on a coffee date with Oliver slowly melted away.

Maybe it was a little slip up on his part, but whatever his reason for trying to plant one on her, she forgave him and wanted to spend more time with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all like it!
> 
> I've been thinking about this and basically working on it since Nate walked into Oliver's office on LoT lmao.


End file.
